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The Otherworld Conquest Method of a Reincarnated Porter Chapter 46 Part 1

Noma and Mamua

「Alright, starting today we’ll be exploring the third stratum. The monsters there range from rank 2 to 7. Let’s give it our best, guys.」

「Oh. Leave it to me.」

「Yes. Today, too, I look forward to working with you.」

The monsters that appear on the third stratum are the same as those on the second stratum, with the only difference being that the upper limit of their rank changes from 5 to 7. As long as we pay attention to not get surrounded by the rock dogs and watch out for the illusionary butterflies, there are few things that could endanger our lives.

We explore the labyrinth smoothly, defeating and dismantling monsters along the way. During the lunch break, Marin asks me about healing magic.

「The trick to learning healing magic, is it?」

「Yes, even now I can’t seem to get a feel for it. There is no sign of me triggering it, either… Do I have no aptitude for it by any chance?」

「Hmm~, I guess it feels like using magical energy manipulation on someone else’s body. This one alone is intuitive type, so it’s quite hard to teach.」

The most common way to learn healing magic is by inflicting injuries on your own body and then trying to put it into practice, but I get the feeling that it is a shorter way to try it out on others than on yourself.

I pull my sword out of its scabbard, channel my magical energy into it, and make a wound on my own arm. Geh, I’m not used to attacking myself, so I misjudged the distance and ended up slitting my wrist deep.

「Eeeeee, Sei-san?! What in the world have you done?!」

「Hey, Sei, you’re bleeding like crazy!」

Crap, I hope there won’t be any aftereffects. No, at any rate, be cool. Just act as if everything is going according to plan.

「Hmm. Marin, I may bleed to death at this rate. Even if I don’t die, maybe I will no longer be able to move my hand due to the aftereffects.」

「No way, no way, Sei-asn.」

「Now, use healing magic to heal me. Listen well. You’re to channel your magical energy into my wrist and examine what the wound is like. After confirming that the blood vessels are severed, use your magical energy to connect them. Then, close up the wound. That kind of image, I guess.」

「Yes, I understand. I’ll give it a try. Sei-san, Sei-san.」

I can sense that Marin’s magical energy is flowing more intensely than usual. With her eyes closed and drops of sweat dripping on her forehead, she is activating magical energy manipulation. What an amazing concentration. I can feel Marin’s magic energy interfering with my wounds. Ooh, so warm. Which means she succeeds, right? The blood vessels are repaired and the bleeding stops. As expected, though, it seems that she doesn’t have enough magical energy to heal the wound.

I cast healing magic on myself to completely heal the wound. As for Marin, she is unsteady due to the depletion of her magical energy. I have ended up making her overwork herself. However, when I appraise her, I find that she now has Healing Magic 1.

「Thank you, Marin. See, it’s completely healed.」

「Ugh, uwaaan.」

Marin cried and hugged me. It seems that the stimulation is a little too much for her. But if it’s the price for learning healing magic, I guess it’s not so bad.

「Please, don’t do such a reckless thing again. Ugh, sob.」

「My bad. I won’t do such a thing again, okay? More importantly, looks like you’ve successfully learned healing magic. That means if Alto gets injured, he can ask you to heal him, Marin.」

「Hehehe, with this, defeating that Stratum Lord is no longer a dream for us.」

「Stratum Lord, huh? I believe it’s on the fourth stratum, one stratum below this, right? Do you have any information about it, Alto?」

「Yeah. I once joined a party to subjugate that guy, but we could do nothing against it at that time. We even ended losing a few adventurers, after all.」

「It was the Giant Armored Spider, I believe? Due to its high defensive power, most attacks must’ve been ineffective against it, huh. In that case, I guess it’d be a good idea to have you learn material enhancement skill for real from now on, Alto.」

「I guess. As you told me to, I’ve been doing magical energy manipulation training every day, so I may be able to do it soon. Alright, starting today, I’m going to start practicing channeling magical energy through the sword.」

「Let’s see. Alto, if you can learn weapon enhancement, I’ll give you this red iron-alloy sword.」

I have five mithril-alloy swords, so I guess I can do without this low-purity red iron-alloy sword. And once Alto managed to learn material enhancement skill, he should be able to make better use of it.

「Huh, are you sure?! For real? Isn’t that expensive?」

「Yeah, I guess it’s worth quite a lot. It’s not only hard, but also relatively easy for magical energy to pass through. On top of that, it’s a forged item. A masterpiece crafted by a renowned Dwarven magic smith.」

「S, Sei-san. No matter how you look at it, giving such a valuable item to big brother is….」

「It’s okay. I have another sword to use, after all. The person who can really make good use of this sword should have it. But don’t forget, Alto. If other adventurers see you using this sword, they might kill you and steal it from you. In fact, I’ve been attacked by a number of adventurers in this labyrinth, after all.」

「Y, yeah. At any rate, what I have to do now is learn material enhancement, right? Alright, let’s do it!」

I am glad that Alto is motivated. As was the case with Marin’s learning of healing magic earlier, I get the feeling that the person in question’s will plays a big role in learning a skill. As a swordsman, maybe Alto will be able to learn it before long.

「Alright, I guess we should get going soon. But before that, Marin. Drink this.」

「This is, a low-grade blue potion?! Such a precious thing….」

「Can you explore the labyrinth in such a wobbly state? What if you collapse during the battle? Besides, it’s not a bad idea to try once what a blue potion is like, right? Now, chew the surface and gulp down the content.」

「Yes, I understand.」

Albeit in a timid manner, Marin swallows the potion.

「Ahh, amazing. My magical energy recovered all at once.」

「Alright, looks like you now understand the virtue of potions. Potion can be sold at a high price, but it is a lifeline for us adventurers. I recommend that you keep them instead of selling them. In particular, you’d do well to always have an antidote, a green potion, on you. I also had my life saved by it once, after all.」

Then we resume our exploration again. The two of them are doing well in both fighting and dismantling, and there is nothing more I can instruct them in. After about two hours, we decide to head home. A round trip from the labyrinth entrance to the third stratum takes more than two hours. As for the fourth stratum and beyond, as expected, staying overnight is imperative. I guess we need to make some preparations for that, too.

When we are walking toward the stairs to the second stratum after deciding to go back, I get the feeling that there is an echo of a high-pitched sound. A woman’s scream? I wonder if it’s just my imagination.

「Say, did you two hear something just now?」

「Huh? I didn’t hear anything.」

「I think I heard something too. Maybe it was in that direction?」

I could ignore it and go to the second stratum, but it would leave a bad aftertaste if something were to happen, after all. Let’s check it out, shall we?

「Sorry for taking up your time, but something might be there. I’d like to check it out. Is that alright with you?」

「Yeah, I’ll follow the leader.」

「I’m curious about it, too. If there’s nothing there, that’d be the best we could wish for, so let’s go and check it out.」

We start walking in the direction where we believe we heard the sound from. There seems to be nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it was just my imagination.

「Hmm~, I guess there’s nothing here. Let’s hurry on.」

As we start walking toward the stairs, I hear a woman’s scream. It is still some distance away, but I can hear it clearly.

「Did you hear that?」

「Yeah, it’s a woman’s scream. Hehehe, let’s go help her.」

「Let’s go. Sei-san.」

「You two get it, don’t you? Maybe it’s not monsters that are attacking her, but humans, you know?」

「Y, yeah. I’ll beat them to a pulp.」

「No, that’s not it. I’m saying that you might have to kill them. Are you prepared to kill people?」

「T, that’d be inevitable….」

「Y, yes. I’m also an adventurer, after all….」

「If the other party is stronger than us, they might kill me and Alto and rape Marin, you know?」

「「…..」」

The two’s faces turn blue. The labyrinth exploration has been progressing smoothly day after day, so maybe they have become a little lax. It is not unusual to find robberies, rapes, and murders in the labyrinth.

「Alright, we’ll erase our presence and get close to them. Follow me. Well, maybe they’re just being attacked by monsters, though.」

「Y, yeah, you’re right. I’m sure that’s the case.」

「…..」

We draw our swords and start walking in the direction of the voice. As we get closer, we can clearly hear the sound of men and women quarreling.

「Looks like they’re just ahead. I’ll go check it out, so you two wait here. It’ll probably turn into a battle. Be sure to prepare yourselves, okay?」

「「…..」」

I leave the two, who say nothing in return, there and go to check on the situation alone, using presence concealment. Incidentally, my proficiency level in presence concealment is 2, but at present, I can’t feel any distinctive effect from this skill.

「No, stop, stop!」

「Ugh, sob. Uwaaaaaan!」

「Hehehe, be quiet, okay? Well, I like it better if you resist, though.」

「Ooh, I think this one’s a virgin.」

「Hey, you guys, hurry up. Think about me that is waiting.」

There is a small room at the end of the passage, where three male adventurers seem to be attacking two female adventurers. Upon closer look, the corpses of two young adventurers are lying on the floor nearby. It appears that three adventurers have attacked a party of four young men and women, killing only the men and are about to rape the women.

One of the men is on the lookout, while the other two are straddling the women. Their trousers are not down. They probably have just killed the two men. At this distance, it is impossible to appraise them.

For the time being, I go back to where Alto and Marin are.